


Curiosity

by APermanentResidentOfTheFriendzone



Category: Metroid Series, Original Work, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:33:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23072503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APermanentResidentOfTheFriendzone/pseuds/APermanentResidentOfTheFriendzone
Summary: A mostly innocent but deadly force. The only question being what will it kill first?The cat, or Aftershock.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Curiosity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [XenArgon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/XenArgon/gifts).



> An ode to a writer I deem far greater than myself.
> 
> That and my bullshit excuse to have my OC's talk to Transformers.
> 
> So enjoy, if you please. And check out XenArgon's works, they're fucking awesome.

To be fair, Aftershock had to admit that she'd been quite foolish.

You'd think with the amount of times she'd gotten in trouble during her remarkably short lifespan, she might've learned the difference between what was considered safe and what wasn't. You'd be surprised.

It wasn't entirely her fault, really. She had awoken from her recharge at a much earlier time than the others, and none of the Luminoth seemed to have ended their slumber, either. Which left her an intoxicating opportunity to finally explore the vast desert sands that surrounded their home, always being visible, but just out of her reach.

Which is how she found herself in her current situation. Stranded in the ocean of dust, unsure of her surroundings. She had gone too far, and now had no idea how to get back home. To make matters worse, the area had no defining landmarks beyond the copious sand dunes.

Aftershock shuddered, her tail shaking behind her slightly, a habit she had built up whenever she felt nervous. She vented out slowly, remembering the relaxation techniques she had seen U-Mos teach Shockwave. She could do this. There had to be way for her to get back on track. 

Then, glancing down at the sand beneath her feet, Aftershock saw them. Her footprints! The desert's vast winds had not yet blown away the telltale signs of her trek, lining a perfect path back to her home.

Aftershock leaped up with a quick cheer, charging down her beaten path, trying to get back as fast as she could. With any luck, she might even make it before anyone got up and noticed she was gone. This was wonderful! But then, the tremors started.

They were small at first, barely noticeable. Aftershock almost thought she was imagining them until one quake shook her so hard she lost her footing and tumbled to the ground. Standing quickly, she saw that the earth and sand had begun to shift, large cracks forming in a circle around her that grew ever and ever smaller. A low rumble then sounded with the tremors, gutteral and feral, the snarl of an apex predator moments away from it's prey. Aftershock was not alone out here.

So much for having calmed herself down! Aftershock shook, more from her terror than the tremors of the landscape. Her tail whisked this was and that, her lithe frame lined with absolute fear.

But just as the creature was about to reach Aftershock, a bright glow manifested out on a nearby hill in a brilliant flash. Nearly as bright as the system's sun, strange runes and symbols stood out in the bright turqouise shimmer, a distinct humming sound emanating from the light.

It was this sound that drove the creature away. The deaths of it's brethren brought it wisdom, and it knew that their deaths were preceded by the whatever malevolent force _those_ humming noises seemed to accompany. The earth and sand was allowed to settle as it left, the ripples and tears returning to their natural position.

Her fear forgotten, Aftershock stared into the blue glow with wonder, awestruck by what was before her. This was unlike anything she had ever seen, and she wanted to get as much out of it as she could.

The glow held for another few moments, then it finally dissipated with another brilliant flash, throwing up a large cloud of sand.

On the hill, stood two....................................

Two _things_. Aftershock had never seen creatures like these before. One of them was in green, the other in black, with some sort of hardened material. But most interesting of all to Aftershock was what she saw on their backs. They almost looked like the thing that Megatron could pop out of his arm-cannon. The one in black carried two of them, shorter and lighter, and straight like a pin. The one in green had one, long, nimble, and curved with a certain elegant flair. And what was that _stuff_ on their heads? It looked.............soft. Like the sands, but not quite the same as that. Aftershock touched the tips of the antennae on her head thoughtfully. The one in black looked around the desert, looking very upset. 

Then, the one in green spoke.

"Now, was that so bad?" he asked the one in black, his arms spread questioningly.

"I swear to the gods, Serpentine. That is the _last_ time I help you with any of your stupid Kyptorian garbage!" the one in black shouted at him. 

Aftershock tilted her head. Serpentine? Was that the green one's name? That sounded like a rock she had heard of once.

"If we want to understand the Kyptorians and what led to their downfall, we have to test the machines they created. Even the failed ones." the green one responded patiently. The black one turned back around, glaring at the green one.

"And what good is that going to do if we end up just like them, man? We have no idea where we are!" the black one said with a wide sweeping gesture at the landscape.

"We know the machine was meant for enabling travel to different realities, so we have some idea." the green one said in a placating manner. The black one wasn't satisfied.

"Oh, different realities! And did any of the Kyptorian's lab notes mention them ever coming _back_ from said different realities?" the black one retorted sarcastically.

Aftershock blinked. What was that Earth-word Knockout had used once? The one you used when you were seeing something almost the exact same as something else before? Day-something-or-other? Whatever it was, that's what she was feeling right now. Seeing these two yell at each other was really familiar, almost like seeing Starscream argue with Knockout or Shockwave.

"Ikki." the green one then said, placing his hands on the black one's shoulders. "Have you so little faith in your companions? Do you think they aren't doing everything they can to find us, using the machine that we know _does_ work?" he asked, his arms spreading out questioningly once again. The black one looked down to his feet.

"No..." he answered quietly.

"Ikki, we survived the opening of the Void. You know this is nothing we can't handle. Right?" the green one asked again. The black one nodded slightly.

"I know." he muttered. The green one placed his hands on his shoulders once more.

"Then have faith, brother. They'll find us. Have patience." the green one finished. The black one finally looked up at the other. He then sighed dramatically.

"Alright then." he said, brushing past the green one and kicking up sand in annoyance.

"Fuck." the black one said to no one in particular.

Aftershock's audio-receptors perked up. She had never heard that word before! Oh, how she loved to learn. It was one of her favourite things to do. It was why she loved knowing barely anything at all! Excitedly, she tried out this new word for herself.

"Fuck." she chirped, the word feeling strange, but welcome on her glossa.

\-----

Ikki's head snapped to the sound of his echoed curse, thinking there was someone at the bottom of the hill he hadn't seen. Instead, he saw this weird, metal thing that was painted white and purple. It also had a tail and stinger.

"What is-" he began, but was cut off by the sound of Serpentine clapping slowly.

" _Omedetō,_ Ikki. You've just taught a young girl how to curse." he said dryly as he followed his companion down the hill. Ikki looked at him with confusion.

"Wha-Young girl? That thing looks more like a rune golem than anything else. The materials are just a lot more refined." he said, jerking a finger at the thing in question, who tilted it's head at him owlishly. Serpentine sighed.

Ikki, one of my master's greatest lessons to me was how precious all life is. That it was sacred, and to be protected against any who dared take it." he began. 

"And the point to this reminiscing is?" he asked, gesturing for him to go on.

"My point is that learning about how precious life is also taught me a much better understanding of what it is for something to be alive." he replied, then turned to the metal creature, smiling slightly. "And I tell you the truth, Ikki. The life I see in that girl's eyes is just as genuine and beautiful as the life in yours or mine." he said with the slightest hint of fondness in his voice. Ikki turned to look at the thing and, well, he had to admit, there was an undefinable _something_ in the thing's eyes (which were still weird, because he'd never seen purple eyes like that before). The thing seemed to smile at him then, if a face of metal could even do that. Tentatively, he offered a smile back, before turning back to Serpentine.

"Okay, so it's alive. But how do you know it's female? It doesn't exactly have any of the _defining features._ " Ikki questioned. Serpentine's face went deadpan.

"Ikki. She's wearing purple." he answered. Ikki looked confused again.

"Doesn't Vic wear purple sometimes?" he asked.

"And 'Vic' is short for 'Victoria IX'. **I don't see the issue**." Serpentine replied matter-of-factly. Ikki laughed for a few moments, before turning back to the metal being. 

"Now that you mention it, she does seem to have an innocent, adorable charm about her. Almost reminds me of Aetsen." Ikki said. 

"Until you learn of her body count." Serpentine muttered. Ikki made a _you're-not-wrong_ gesture.

"So yeah. I guess you were right. I taught a young girl how to-" Ikki suddenly cut himself off, his body going rigid.

"Ikki?" Serpentine asked, laying a hand on the mercenary's armor-ridden shoulder. Ikki slapped his hand off, motioning for silence.

"Quiet." he whispered, lowering his head to the sand. "Do you feel that?" he hissed. 

Serpentine tensed up. He did feel something. The ground was............ _shifting_? 

"This is a desert. Earthquakes like this shouldn't be possible in this climate." he muttered. Ikki shook his head.

"This isn't an earthquake, Serpentine." he said morosely, his hand worrying at the hilt of his sword.

"Then what could be causing this?" he asked, as cracks suddenly began forming in the sand, pieces of earth jostling on top of one another. A sudden cry from their new friend grabbed their attention. A fearful look adorned her face, her tail swishing back and forth as the terrifying creature from before returned. 

"What's scaring her?" Serpentine asked urgently.

"She's being hunted. There's something under the ground, Serpentine. Something very, _very_ big." Ikki answered, sorrowfully calm.

It was then that a large body broke the surface of the shifting earth. Even as a stranger to this new world, Serpentine was able to tell that this gigantic creature was some sort of worm. Now he understood Ikki's premature grasp of the situation. Born to a family of heavy-handed miners, Ikki spent many of his early years in the vast excavation caverns with his family. Caverns that served as makeshift tombs when the Magistrate forced families like his to dig into areas inhabited by Cesruun Worms, vicious predators known for their tactic of hunting prey from below ground. Ikki had managed to escape this grisly fate, but many of his kin were not so fortunate. It was this that made him hunt the Motivators that the Magistrate employed to subjugate their workers with the most ferocity, one of the few things that could bring down his normally jovial and charismatic attitude. 

But today, he would save a life with this knowledge. As the giant worm creature surfaced, the two companions noticed it's beeline to their new friend. Ikki leapt up, dashing faster than Serpentine had ever seen him go.

"It's headed right for her!" he shouted, miraculously surpassing the worm in their race for the young girl, who still had not gained the nerve to move an inch (ironic, considering this was when she needed to most).

"Look out, little one!" Ikki cried, arms wrapping around surprisingly warm steel as he tackled her to the ground, mere seconds before the worm creature reached them.

It's maw snapping up out of the sand (thankfully empty-handed), the three finally saw the creature in all it's glory. A thick hide of rough, clammy skin, ventricles glistening with slobber and carnal hunger, and three eyes of murky, soulless orange.

Ikki drew his dual blades, keeping the girl behind him and as far away from this creature as possible.

"Oh, gods! I can do this! I can do this! It's just like that time I fought that Octroll, only this time with sand instead of water." he shouted to himself. The worm seemed unamused, rearing back it's head and opening wide before lunging at them with a vicious chomp. Ikki thrust his blades between the monster's teeth, pushing with all his might back against this creature that towered above him. They struggled against each other for a few seconds, before Ikki finally managed to push the worm back, forcing it's head into the ground, delivering a swift frenzy of cuts with his blades on the now exposed skin. But the skin proved too thick an armor for the mercenary to pierce, inflicting wounds that only needled the creature, who raised it's head up to stare down at him vindictively.

Just then, a burst of blue blaze struck the monster from it's back, the rough skin shriveling and turning black from the heat. The worm let out a gutteral howl of agony, before rearing it's head back once more. Ikki raised his blades in preparation for another strike, but he was mistaken. The creature's head struck ground, burrowing back below the sand, churning the surrounding earth.

Ikki looked to Serpentine, the ninja smoking at the fingertips like a fired cannon. 

_Don't. Move._ he mouthed to his fellow swordsman. Trusting the mercenary's knowledge, Serpentine gave a small nod.

Ikki nodded back. But then, he heard her. Twisting himself around, he saw his new friend, the poor girl shaking like it was a frozen tundra they were in, rather than a desert, her eyes darting this way and that, her mouth letting out those involuntary moans of fear he'd known all too well as a boy. 

"Shhhhh." he sounded, slowly raising a finger to his lips in a gesture he prayed she understood. She looked at him, silently pleading for help. "Be still, little one. This creature feels your movements. You must not move even slightly." the girl tried, but it proved fruitless, only panicking more. Ikki raised his hands in a calming motion.

"Be brave, my friend. I know you must be very brave. You remind me a lot of my friend from back home, and she is one of the bravest people I've ever had the honour of knowing. I know you can do this, little one." he said encouragingly. The girl closed those purple eyes of hers, seeming to take a deep breath, and then miraculously, she stopped shaking after a few seconds. Ikki gave her the biggest smile he could manage in the current situation.

"Well done!" he whispered, before turning back to Serpentine.

"I have an a idea." he called softly. Serpentine looked at him, listening intently, forcefully ignoring the rumbling of the earth and the worm creature's snarling as it struggled to find it's prey, the vibrations resonating throughout his very person.

"You need to get your blade stuck in that thing's mouth. I'll take care of the rest." he instructed, before impossibly stiffening himself even further as the worm snarled louder. Serpentine nodded his hand closing around his blade's hilt, sliding the katana out of the scabbard. Now he just needed a way to stick it between that thing's teeth. He could try moving and getting it's attention, but that was far too risky of a maneuver. He could endanger the others. No, he needed to give ample space between the blade and everyone else. There. Sticking it in that rock between him and Ikki ought to do the trick.

He pointed at the rock with his blade to Ikki. The mercenary gave a quick nod, bracing himself. Winding his arm back, Serpentine estimated the distance, planted his feet, and cast his weapon into the air. It spun around exactly one and a half rotations before landing, penetrating the rock at the exact right angle he needed, a loud clash of stone and sleek steel sounding across the desert.

The worm let out a triumphant snarl. It's prey had given itself away, and it would not escape him for a third time in a row. Helplessly, it surged through the earth to the source of the vibration, it's jaws opening and ready to claim their prize.

Only to find it was unable to close them. As it bit down on the source of the noise, it realized it had been tricked, and it shrieked with surprise, which quickly turned to pain as the source of it's trouble suddenly dug into the sensitive chunks of flesh between it's teeth.

Ikki let out a fierce cry, charging headlong at the worm as it writhed, attempting to remove Serpentine's sword from it's teeth. Seeing him, the monster turned to face him with a growl, but this only proved to be it's downfall. Planting his feet, Ikki leaped, soaring past the teeth and diving straight into the monster's gullet. The monster reared back in surprise, not expecting the vermin, who had been resisting so fiercely before, to switch around and jump into it's mouth voluntarily. But then, the monster shrieked in agony, even louder than before, as it began to convulse from head to tail. It thrashed about desperately, trying anything to escape the unimaginable pain, but it was futile. Before long, it's thrashing grew weaker, and it finally gave one last feeble shriek before it slumped over in the sand.

"Ikki!" Serpentine cried, rushing over to the worm's carcass, forgetting their other friend for a moment. He snatched his blade from the worm's maw, and ran along it's body, calling his name.

"Ikki, are you alright?" he shouted at the wall of flesh. Still no answer. He feared the worst.

But just then, two blades tore the thick skin of the worm (I just fucking wrote that, good Lord), carving a hole in the carcass, and out popped Ikki, triumphant, joyful, and covered in a purple bodily fluid both men hoped was just blood.

" _Hah!_ Did you see that?" he cheered, cleaning worm guts off of his blades before sheathing them. 

"I jumped down the beast's throat and cut it up from the inside! And Vic says I have no sense of strategy!" Serpentine sheathed his own blade, exasperation and relief doing battle on his face.

"I'm starting to believe he's right. What if you hadn't been able to cut yourself free? What then?" he asked. Ikki laughed.

"Oh brother, you know better than to worry about the what-if's, Serpentine! It worked! We saved the day!" he rationalized, heartily clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Saved me." they heard the girl say from behind them. They turned to her, a spark of awe in those violet eyes. Ikki scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Oh, it was nothing, little..........You know now that I think about it, we never asked you your name." he said, heading back over to the girl.

"Aftershock." she chirped with a smile.

"That's a very pretty name, Aftershock. I must say it was an interesting time we had meeting you." Ikki replied. 

Just then, Serpentine heard an odd noise to their right. Off in the distance, several giant carriages and birds composed of metal were headed straight in their direction. 

"Aftershock." he called. The girl perked to his attention, looking in the same direction as he was.

"Friends of yours?" he asked, looking back at her.

"Family." She answered, before taking off at a run to meet them. Looking to each other, Ikki and Serpentine nodded and headed after her.

The carriages and birds eventually reached them, their parts shifting and changing before they stood before the three as giants. One of them, one-eyed, purple, and with an odd cannon for a hand, stepped forward and scooped Aftershock up off the ground.

"Scorpling," he began. "what were you doing so far from home? Nobody had any idea how to find you." Aftershock hung her head at these words.

"Wanted to explore." she answered. "Got in trouble." she added, pointing a finger at the rotting body of the worm.

"An Amorbis. We'll have to inform the Luminoth their developmental cycle has completed." the machine said. 

"Would've died." Aftershock continued. "Saved me!" she shouted with wonder, hopping out of her guardian's grip and scurrying back to Ikki and Serpentine, arms spread wide as she introduced her new friends.

"Humans? How are they here, on Aether?" said the grey one who also had an cannon on his arm, but it didn't replace his hand, asked, staring down at the two swordsmen, the rest of his companions following suit.

"If it makes you feel better, we have no idea either." Ikki answered, giving his usual winning smile to the giant, who grunted in response.

"And you expect us to believe that two humans were able to slay a fully grown Amorbis, using nothing more than those tiny sticks?" he asked, pointing a finger at their swords.

"I'm covered in the thing's guts, am I not?" Ikki retorted jokingly, gesturing to himself. That actually made the giant laugh, if only a small chuckle.

"Yes, I suppose you are." Aftershock then hopped up and down excitedly. 

"Oh! I learned a new word!" she shouted with absolute glee, which Serpentine had to admit was kind of cute, but then he remembered which word she was referring to.

"Really? That's wonderful, Aftershock. What is it?" the grey giant asked, smiling softly down at her.

"Fuck!" she shouted, unable to contain her excitement. The giant's smile dropped in place of a face of shock. Serpentine turned to look at Ikki, the mercenary looking awfully pink for a man covered in purple gunk. The giant coloured red and white face-palmed; a universal gesture.

"Of course, because why wouldn't that be the _first_ thing she learns from a human?" he asked, sounding thoroughly exhausted with just about everything. Ikki cringed.

"I take it back." he hissed. "I wish I wasn't able to cut myself out." Serpentine shook his head.

"You've made your bed, now you must lie in it." he said. The grey giant turned to them.

"Regardless of that, understand we owe you our gratitude. This child is precious to us, and you did a very brave and selfless service to her. My name is Megatron, and these are my friends, Shockwave and Soundwave." he said, gesturing to the purple ones, both the one with the hand cannon, and the one with the masked face who'd yet to say anything, but seemed to be keeping a close eye on Aftershock.

"I'm not his friend." said the red and white one, pointing to himself. Megatron smirked.

"Pay no mind to Ratchet. He doesn't like anybody." he said. Ikki smiled again.

"A pleasure, all of you. I am he called Ikki, and my quiet friend here is Serpentine. You'll have to excuse him, he's not good with large crowds." Serpentine rolled his eyes.

"Don't we all know someone like that." Megatron murmured, looking over his shoulder at Soundwave, who pointedly focused on pulling Aftershock towards him.

"It truly is wonderful to meet all of you, but I must confess we have no means of returning home. It may sound impossible, but we're from a reality separate from this one and came here without knowing how to get back." Ikki said with a certain melancholy. The giants all looked at each other, not exactly sure what to say to that, before Ratchet spoke up.

"That strange glow wouldn't happen to have anything to do with your problem, would it?" he asked, pointing somewhere behind the two of them. They turned around, seeing that the brilliant blow glow that had previously surrounded them had once again returned.

"You could've mentioned that earlier, you know." Ikki said before he and Serpentine ran off towards the glow, the giants following once Aftershock had set off after them.

The glow grew brighter as they drew nearer, and with another great flash, the glow grew into a column of light that stretched into the sky. A few seconds later, a figure stepped out of the column into the world. Ash.

"Finally. Took forever to figure out where that damn thing sent you." she said, awfully nonchalant. She looked at Ikki in disgust, noting the new coat of paint he'd adorned himself with. "What happened to you?" she asked. Ikki grinned at her.

"I got swallowed by a worm." he answered, jerking a thumb at the carcass. Ash wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"I'm not washing that out for you." she said dryly. Ikki laughed, before realizing she was serious.

"Wait, you mean it?" he asked. She threw her hands up, mentally questioning why she even bothered, and then turned back into the column back to their world. Ikki and Serpentine turned to face the giants.

"I suppose this is farewell, for now." Ikki said sadly. He raised his hand and waved. "It was amazing meeting you all! Goodbye!" and with that, Ikki turned back and into the column as well. Serpentine nodded to each of the giants, each of them acknowledging him in return. Then he got to Aftershock, who stood right in front of him. He laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Stay safe for me, little one." he murmured to her. " _Sayōnara._ " Aftershock in turn wrapped her arms around him. Surprised, Serpentine patted her back once in kind. Then, they parted, and he stepped into the column as she went back to her family, both companions finally returning home.

**Author's Note:**

> From what I know of them, Amorbis seem to be the exact sort of creatures that would hunt you underground. Real Tremors vibes.
> 
> Also, a thousand pardons for any and all inaccuracies to the lore of either universe. You'll find I'm seldom an expert in either regard.
> 
> So thanks for reading this if you do, I hope you enjoyed my attempt to give back to one of my favourite creators. 
> 
> Until next time. Friendzone out.


End file.
